Ad blitz: Report says Super Bowl airtime already near sellout

Super Bowl XLVIII is still nearly six months away from its MetLife Stadium kickoff in East Rutherford, but what little advertising space remains on the airwaves is selling at a premium.

Neil Mulcahy, executive vice president of Fox Sports, which will broadcast the 2014 game, told USA Today 85 percent of ad time for the championship game already is sold, and he expects another 5 percent to go prior to the season opener in September.

Thirty-second ad slots are selling for $4 million or more, according to media buyers cited in the report. That's at least a $2 million premium over the average going rate of 2013 Super Bowl slots sold by CBS.

Mulcahy did not comment to USA Today on pricing for the ad time, but did say there was a crop of new advertisers buying space for February's title game.

Brian Steinberg, a senior television editor at Variety, quotes another anonymous ad buyer as suggesting Fox only has 75 percent of the ad space sold, and first-half ad time is selling for about $200,000 more than second-half slots.

The Super Bowl remains the most-watched television event of all time, garnering 108.4 million viewers last year, according to Nielsen Co.